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Christiane Charette's run ends....with a Kanye West dance party

Author of the article:

Brendan Kelly • Montreal Gazette

Publishing date:

June 4, 2011 • 3 minute read

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Okay it wasn’t quite the end of an era but it was most certainly the end of something. Christiane Charette hosted the mid-morning show on La Première Chaine of Radio-Canada for the last time Friday morning after a five year run behind the microphone on what was for most of that time one of the most influential shows on Quebec radio.

The very last show included many of the folks who appeared on Charrette’s show over the years, including les deux Marc (La Presse film critics Marc-André Lussier and Marc Cassivi), Nathalie Petrowski, Josée Legault, and Louis Morissette. Then just as the clock hit 11 a.m. – marking the end of the show – the champagne was uncorked and le bash commenced. (By the way, before you fire off an angry missive, the champers was NOT paid for by your tax dollars!)

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The first person I bumped into in the very crowded, dimly-lit – of course! – Studio 18 was TV host Anne-Marie Withenshaw who immediately introduced me to Morissette. We’ve never met in person before but he had made it clear via mutual friends that he thought I was way out-of-line with my criticism of his infamous Bye Bye from a couple of years back. Withenshaw said she wanted to set-up a reconciliation between us but we both pointed out that had already happened – when I caught up with him in Cannes on the phone last fall. Clickhere for the full details of that hilarious call. But we still have to sit down for that promised beer – which I hope will happen soon (hopefully on friendly Irish turf at Hurley’s).

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Gradually the guests – including fashion-watcher Stéphane Leduc, Rad-Can director and music columnist Marc Coiteux, media columnist Nathalie Collard and singer-songwriter Thomas Hellman – disappeared and it was down to Charette and her ultra-dynamic team, along with a few hangers-on. (Yes including yours truly. What can I say, I had nowhere else to go.)

As folks munched on crustless sandwiches and hot-dog-flavoured chips, and sipped champagne, there was much sentimental looking back at the past five years, with a few tears shed. Charette has talked a good talk about walking away at the right time but Friday she admitted it was going to be disconcerting to wake up Monday morning and find no new emails in her Inbox. Director Marie-Claude Beaucage – who has done an unbelievable job of somehow bringing this anarchic show in on time and on budget every day – talked of how she just couldn’t imagine NOT calling Christiane 25 times a day. In typical fashion, head researcher Marie-France Lemaine – a quintessential unsung hero who couldn’t believe she was trending on Twitter Friday morning – was quieter but she also made it clear that this was a mighty emotional day for her. Like Charette herself, most everyone who works with her don’t know what they’ll be doing work-wise come this fall.

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Well into the bash, a group of high-school kids from Sherbrooke suddenly appeared, on a tour of the Rad-Can facilities, and everyone was quick to tell the kids that this was a big going-away party and not your average Premiere Chaine studio scene. One girl asked if she could have her photo taken with Charette, saying “C’est mon idole.” The notoriously camera-shy Charette immediately agreed.

It all ended with some wild hip-hop-meets-Hendrix Kanye West blasting from the speakers – I’m talking the just smokin’ extended version of Runaway pal! – and Charette, alone, dancing in the dark studio, looking more relaxed than I’ve seen her in, well, about five years.

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